Mayor Michael Ferguson

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson will be “out of commission” for a little while, he said Monday.

Ferguson announced at Monday’s village Board of Trustees meeting that he is having surgery. He was prompted by a statement to him from Trustee Ben Brauchler: “I just wanna wish you success with what you have coming up.”

Ferguson replied, “Just to inform you — I wasn’t going to speak about it tonight — I’m going to be out of commission beginning Friday with surgery. Deputy Mayor (Jon) Espersen will be taking over for the time being.

“I don’t have a timetable on my immediate return, but we also discussed the possibility of Zooming in, which is allowed by our current laws under medical conditions,” Ferguson said. Municipal officials were allowed to attend meetings remotely for any reason during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was a temporary law which has lapsed.

The mayor concluded, “More than likely I’ll be missing at least the next two (Board of Trustees) meetings, and hopefully be back sometime after that.”

Ferguson took care of one key bit of village business ahead of his absence: He submitted a proposed 2025-26 village budget to trustees. The mayor said Monday he had met with Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau, trustees and department heads about his proposal.